Founder of Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Kasibugga, in which nine people were killed in a stampede on November 1, said that the mishap took place due to an unexpected large turnout of devotees.

“Yesterday, I told the devotees to go inside the temple, but suddenly a large number of devotees came together at a time and we could not control it. We have not provided any information to the police… Whenever I am there, usually devotees enter there one by one and worship…” Hari Mukunda Panda, 95, said.

He further said that the police was not informed about the event at the temple on the ocassion of Ekadashi. “We haven’t provided any information to the police. There’s no need to inform the police every week for control purposes, as we usually manage things ourselves. The devotees

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